5. THE BETRAYAL

Matthew 26:15 Judas said, "What are you willing to give me to BETRAY Him to you?" And they weighed out thirty pieces of silver to him. 16 From then on he began looking for a good opportunity to betray Jesus... [23] And He answered, "He who dipped his hand with Me in the bowl is the one who will betray Me... And Judas, who was betraying Him, said, "Surely it is not I, Rabbi?" Jesus said to him, "You have said it yourself."

DEVOTE:
Judas betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. And today Jesus is still being betrayed for money. One would almost think that there is no other “gospel” than the “prosperity gospel”. Yet the Bible strongly cautions us about the “deceitfulness of riches” (Mark 4:19); Timothy is warned to flee the “love of money as the root of all evil” (1 Tim 6:10); Jesus warns that money is a master, a god, an object of worship, that we can’t serve Him and money, and that loyalty to one betrays the other (Matt 6:24). And Judas loved money. He stole from the treasury (John 12:6), like non-givers do today (Mal 3:8 and Acts 5:1-11), and that became the root of his betrayal. Scripture warns us that in these closing days, “men will be lovers of money, having a form of godliness, although they have denied its power (i.e. the cross; Christ [1 Cor 1:18, 24]; and the Gospel [Rom 1:16]), and we are “to avoid such men as these”! (2 Tim 3:6)
Greed is idolatry (Col 3:5) Money is a substitute god, and Eccl 10:19 tells us that “money is the answer to everything”! Hence Judas could betray Jesus – Christ wasn’t his answer, and therefore Christ wasn’t his God. Are you content with Christ alone?

PRAY:
Father, please extract “Lord Lotto” from my heart, and put a loyal spirit within me. Please save me from betraying you to the “highest bidder”. Help me to be content with what I have, so that I can be generous to those who do not have. Amen